Friday, January 03, 2014

'Various Pets Alive & Dead' by Marina Lewycka

3 January 2014I've
previously compared the novelist Marina Lewycka to David Lodge and
Anne Tyler (in reviewing 'We Are All Made of Glue' here in January
2011 and ‘A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian’ in April
2006). She writes entertaining contemporary comic novels with a
lightness of touch that acts as a Trojan horse for some serious
themes. I really enjoyed Marina Lewycka's latest novel 'Various Pets
Alive & Dead' which deals with the financial crisis of 2008.
Mathematician Serge is a 'quant' (quantitative analyst) at Finance
and Trading Consolidated Alliance at the heart of the London banking
world but his mother, Doro, thinks he is completing his PhD in
Cambridge. Doro still lives in Doncaster where she brought up her
family in a socialist commune. Her daughter Clara is a primary school
teacher who lives in Sheffield. Each chapter is told through the eyes
of one of these three characters. Gradually we piece together their
stories, the history of the commune and the contrast between
political ideals and the pragmatic modern world. Short chapters
create a real pace to the intertwined narratives which builds to some
wonderful comic set pieces as the separate lives of the main
characters come together. There are some mysteries buried in this
family history, not all of which are neatly tied up. 'Various Pets
Alive & Dead' is an enjoyable and thought-provoking read.

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About Me

Since September 2005 Robin Simpson has been Chief Executive of Voluntary Arts, which provides a universal voice for approximately 63,000 voluntary arts groups, across the UK and Ireland, involving more than 10 million participants in creative cultural activities. A keen amateur French horn player, Robin is currently a member of the Northampton Symphony Orchestra. Robin is a perennial ballroom dancing student, a frequent theatre-goer, an enthusiastic reader of contemporary fiction, an insatiable consumer of classical and world music and a keen blogger at www.culturalplayingfield.org and www.culturaldessert.blogspot.com